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Even some Democrats who have been big supporters of the Affordable Care Act told McDonough that Obama’s plan for an administration fix to address health plan cancellations isn’t enough for them. They need a bill to get behind. Translation: In addition to skepticism about the policy, it’s not good politics for them to just fall in line behind Obama on the fix.

House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other party leaders discussed options for a bill with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius just before McDonough arrived to address the full caucus. She is trying to help the White House stem a tide of House Democrats who are leaning toward voting for a GOP bill, due on the House floor Friday, that would address the cancellation issue in much broader fashion than Obama would like.

“We don’t have a policy problem,” Pelosi told her Democrats in the private meeting, a defense of the law written by Congress. “We have a website problem.”

Pelosi’s proposal would allow enrollment in the exchanges for a year rather than just through March 31 and add consumer protections that would give state insurance commissioners authority over price increases, according to a source familiar with the plan. But the best Democrats can hope for is to offer it as a procedural motion to recommit the Republican bill that will certainly be defeated in the GOP-controlled House.

No one expects Obama to lose the majority of Democrats on the GOP bill Friday, but even a few dozen defections would be a telling indication that lawmakers are no longer as worried about hurting him as they once were.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) was one of several lawmakers who said they plan to vote for the GOP bill if there’s not a better alternative by Friday.

Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) told McDonough he was happy that the president was trying to address the problems but that the episode shook his faith in the administration’s ability to foresee and address future issues. In particular, Capuano said, members of his staff have had just as much trouble signing up for the new exchanges as Americans across the country. He told McDonough the president should delay the mandate that individuals buy insurance or pay a penalty, which is the vital mechanism for constraining prices for people who buy coverage through the exchanges.

Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) even chided the White House for failing to set up a way for consumers to sign up for insurance through smartphone apps.

But plenty of Democrats are willing to stand with Obama through the current mess, even if they’re willing to dish out a little criticism.

Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), who passionately defended the law in the closed-door meeting Thursday, acknowledged in an interview that the White House was probably a “little too overconfident and the rhetoric, perhaps, got a little hyperbolic in terms of how perfect this is.” But he also acknowledged it is more difficult for House Democrats to sign onto the White House’s promises right now, particularly the assurances that the website will be fixed by the end of the month.

“We’re not going to all get behind a Nov. 30 date, which is probably not going to be realized, that’s all, but were still supportive of the president, we’re still supportive of the Affordable Care Act, and we want to be constructive. We don’t want to destroy it, we want to fix it, and it does need to be fixed,” Moran said. “I think looking back the White House would agree even more vigorously than we do that perhaps they shouldn’t have made as many promises with such short deadlines.”